Beware the Sandman
by Sherlock River Hekate
Summary: After a hard mission, Jack relaxes at Mac's place. But sometimes the brain can be a fickle thing, and memories Jack would rather forget surface.


Jack and MacGyver had just returned home from a mission in Arabia. Well, the Arabian Desert to be more exact. They were still sweat sticky, tired, and sore. And there was sand in places neither wanted to think about. After Delta forces and the mess that was Cairo, Jack didn't want to see anymore sand unless it was the LA coast.

Once they had been debriefed by Matty, both Jack and Mac headed back to Mac and Bozer's place. It was around dinner time, and Bozer had promised them a feast as a celebration of their return. If there was one thing that Jack wasn't going to turn down, no matter how tired he was, it was Bozer's cooking, especially his burgers. With the amount of his down time that he spent at his friend's place, Jack had ended up with a spare set of clothes being left there. So they both drove together over to Mac's place. Chances were that Jack would end up spending the night there, particularly if Riley also came over.  
"I'd kill for a shower, preferably a hot one," Jack said, making his way through the front door.  
Mac laughed, "By all means, take the first shower then," he told the older man.  
"You sure, bud?" Jack asked. It was Mac's house after all.  
"Yea," Mac replied, "I'll put a load of washing on, my clothes need a serious wash."  
"Alright!" Jack raced towards the bathroom, barely pausing to shout a greeting to Bozer as he went past.

Once they were both showered, Mac and Jack sat outside on the decking by the fire pit. Cracking a beer each, they sat in silence for a bit.  
"Man, we are never doing a mission in the desert again," Jack swore to Mac.  
"It wasn't that bad, Jack," the blonde countered.  
"Not that bad?!" He asked incredulously, "We got into a fire fight in the middle of the desert and we lost contact with Riley."  
"It wasn't another Cairo," Mac commented.  
"You wash your mouth out," Jack told him mock sternly, "You'll curse us saying something like that." He'd never tell Mac how much this mission reminded him of Cairo, and an op that went sideways before Mac had joined his unit.  
"Yea, alright," the older man conceded, "It wasn't as bad as it could have been."  
Just then Riley walked through the door and they both got up to greet their tech specialist.

After eating their fill, and some, of food, they were sitting around and playing charades. It was Bozer's idea. Jack was fairly terrible at it, but Riley was surprisingly good at both guessing and acting out the clues. But as the night wore on, Mac and Jack were getting more and more tired.  
Jack started nodding off while he was supposed to be guessing 'The Da Vinci Code'.  
"Hey, old man," Riley called out, "Eyes open, stop taking a nanna nap."  
Jack jerked his eyes open, "I wasn't sleeping."  
The rest of the group just laughed.  
"Okay, time for all good spies to go to bed," Bozer instructed.

Jack jolted awake, looking around in the dark for something that wasn't there. His breath was coming as gasps, and his skin was clammy.  
In his mind's eye he could still see the sand of the desert, the bodies littering the ground where he hadn't been quick enough to catch the sniper. Only this time, amongst the civilians there was Mac. He'd failed him.  
Shakily, he stood up and made his way from the couch in the lounge to the kitchen. He reached for a glass to get a drink of water, but the tremor in his hands meant that the smooth glass slipped from his grasp. Before Jack could react, it hit the floor and shattered with a crash.  
"Shit," Jack cursed quietly, hoping no one had heard the noise.  
There was no sound of movement, so Jack slowly crouched down to pick up the glass shards. Just then he heard footsteps come into the kitchen.  
"What happened, Jack?" Mac asked, slowly putting down whatever was in his hand that he had intended as a weapon.  
"Just dropped a glass, misjudged the distance," Jack tried to play it off.  
"Sure," Mac replied, leaning against the counter. "Anything else you wanted to tell me?"  
"Nope, I'm all good," Jack said lightly, hoping the shake in his voice wasn't evident.  
"Okaaay," Mac drawled. "So you'll be right if I go back to bed?"  
"Yea, course," Jack replied.  
Mac turned to leave, but as he did he knocked a book off the counter. Jack startled, reaching for the weapon he normally had tucked into his waist band and already in a crouch on the floor.  
"Jack," Mac said, crouching down beside his friend, "It's ok to not be alright."  
Jack leant against the cupboard with a sigh.  
"Yea, ok," he said, "I just, had a bit of nightmare. The mission, you know, reminded me of Cairo." He laughed bitterly. "Reminded me of some things with the force too."  
Mac stood up, and extended a hand down to the older man.  
"Come on, let's head to the couch. You'll be more comfortable there."

"Did you want to talk about it?" Mac asked, as they sat on the couch.  
"Not really," Jack replied. Mac nodded, relaxing back into the couch.  
A few moments passed and then Jack spoke up.  
"It reminded me of an op that went south, back before you joined my unit. We were in a small town, not many people, most of them friendly. There was an abandoned complex on the outskirts of the town, intel was that it was being used as a stronghold for some group or another. They found out my unit was there before we could do anything. First we knew about it was the gunshots. There was a sniper in the old complex. But from where they were, they could get anyone in the square. The group decided to start picking off civilians, hoping to draw us out. Kids, they got kids, Mac!"  
Jack stopped to take a shaky breath, his head still off in the desert somewhere. Mac had never seen his friend so shaken. After a few moments, Jack was able to collect himself.  
"We weren't even in the town at the time. When we arrived back there were already half a dozen people lying dead in the streets. We had the all clear to take the group out, but they ambushed us. It was another fire fight in the desert."  
Mac moved closer, putting an arm around him.  
"But worse was the nightmare. You were with us, and I didn't see the sniper in time. He got you, Mac. The bastard got you, and there was nothing I could do. I failed you, just like with Murdoc. I failed my one job, keep my partner safe. And I couldn't damn well do it!"  
Mac squeezed his shoulders, and Jack relaxed into it a little.  
"It's alright Jack," Mac said calmly, "It wasn't real. I'm here and you didn't fail me, then or now. I'm alright."  
Jack made a noise in the back of his throat, and rested his hand on Mac's knee.  
"Yea, you're alright," he repeated. He kept repeating that a few times before they sunk into silence.  
"No more missions in the desert?" Jack said.  
"No more missions in the desert," Mac repeated. They were silent, thinking for a bit after that.  
"Did you want to put a movie on?" Mac asked, "I'll even let you pick, despite your terrible taste in movies."  
"MY terrible taste?!" Jack questioned, "I have wonderful taste in movies."  
"Bruce Willis," Mac coughed.  
"Die Hard is classic," Jack countered, a small smile on his face.  
"Yea yea," Mac muttered, "To you maybe. But I'll put it on anyway."

When Bozer went to the kitchen the next morning, he found Mac and Jack curled up together on the couch, with Mac's arm around Jack and Jacks head resting on Mac's shoulder. The credits to the movie had long since finished rolling, but the older man had a small smile on his face as he slept.


End file.
